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Oswego Alumni Magazine Wordpress siteFri, 30 Jan 2015 20:35:19 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1From the President’s Deskhttp://www.oswego.edu/magazine/2015/01/05/from-the-presidents-desk-10/
http://www.oswego.edu/magazine/2015/01/05/from-the-presidents-desk-10/#commentsMon, 05 Jan 2015 23:20:43 +0000http://www.oswego.edu/magazine/?p=6400As we welcome 2015, it is clear that SUNY Oswego has never been as strong as it is today. We provide exceptional opportunities for our students to realize their full potential and their individual destinies—they are immersed in hands-on, minds-on learning in the traditions first established by our founder Edward Austin Sheldon, with extraordinary faculty and staff who also mentor and guide them on their paths.

With the passing of 2014, we reflect on our accomplishments and the challenges we’ve overcome. And we’ve got a lot to be proud of! On Oct. 16, I was enormously pleased to publicly announce With Passion and Purpose: The Campaign for SUNY Oswego, our most ambitious effort to date with a goal of raising $40 million, and we are well on our way to reaching our goal.

The daylong celebration of the launch—documented in the cover story that maps a historic 24 hours—included:

national broadcasts of on-campus segments for the Weather Channel’s “Wake Up With Al” and NBC’s “Today” show with our loyal alumnus Al Roker ’76;

The events of that day, along with our many other successes, emphasize a recurring theme in Oswego’s history. SUNY Oswego is meant to be here—our mission in our time is exactly right—to be a great public institution that marries excellence and opportunity with access and affordability; an institution that can make the dream of attaining a spectacular education a reality.

– President Deborah F. Stanley

]]>http://www.oswego.edu/magazine/2015/01/05/from-the-presidents-desk-10/feed/0From the President’s Deskhttp://www.oswego.edu/magazine/2014/08/11/from-the-presidents-desk-9/
http://www.oswego.edu/magazine/2014/08/11/from-the-presidents-desk-9/#commentsMon, 11 Aug 2014 19:43:19 +0000http://www.oswego.edu/magazine/?p=6149Behind the scenes. The concept conjures images of people in the shadows, amid pulleys, electrical cords and the blank sides of two-dimensional set pieces. Or the expression can signify an “edgy” approach that gives audiences an “insider’s” look into the making of a movie, a play or really any kind of creation or process.

This issue features stories that portray Oswego’s “Backstage Stars”— our alumni who work as costumers, lighting and sound designers, stage managers and directors. Our cover story about Broadway stagehand and lead carpenter George Dummitt ’69 showcases an alumnus whose support of his alma mater, literally and figuratively, strengthens our “behind-the-scenes” activities to improve our public successes. His support and connections to campus exemplify the impact a single individual can have on our beloved institution.

Our more than 78,000 alumni contribute their diverse talents to their communities worldwide in a variety of ways. You each find your own way to fulfill the charge of college founder, Edward Austin Sheldon, to apply your education “to its highest degree of usefulness.” Some of you are center stage as teachers in the classroom or managers in your company. Others employ your academic and life lessons as active and engaged community members and as “intrapreneurial” employees, who are committed to advancing your organization with the same dedication and passion as if you were the owner.

As we prepare to host the Welcoming Torchlight ceremony for our incoming students, we recognize the light our thousands of alumni emit through their work—whether it be center stage or behind the scenes. We take pride in your many accomplishments and applaud your efforts. Know that you will always have the home-crowd audience here in Oswego, ready to acknowledge your successes!

Our college and the accomplished and diverse members of our SUNY Oswego family build on the past in intriguing ways, even as we move boldly into the future.

A case in point is George Wurtz ’78, who has used his degree in what we used to call industrial arts to develop a career in paper manufacturing that places him among the leading CEOs in that industry.

When I visited his Soundview Paper Company, George led me on a tour of the Elmwood Park, N.J., plant and explained the paper production process. Learning about his business plans, watching the giant machines in the factory, hearing how he applied the skills and concepts he learned as an undergraduate, I realized that for him, as for thousands of our alumni, the foundation for success was forged at SUNY Oswego. His remarkable career, his commitment to the increasingly urgent demand for environmental sustainability, and his loyalty to Oswego all stem from his experiences on campus in the 1970s, studying in a program founded in 1902.

George and his wife, Nancy, were among the nearly 1,000 alumni who came “home” to Reunion 2013 to connect with friends, classmates, professors and events from their past. As always, I was privileged to hear our graduates’ memories of their alma mater and their visions of what the college might become as new challenges and opportunities arise.

Reunion guests spoke of their pride in the campus: the beauty of the grounds, upkeep of buildings, and stunning new structures, including the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation. Many cited the importance of melding past, present and future as we develop and renew our campus.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the renovation of the original campus building, Sheldon Hall. We completed the exterior renovation just in time for the building’s centennial. Sheldon Hall represents the heart of everything we hold dear about SUNY Oswego. Its magic stirs me, as I know it does so many others. I remember myself as a young faculty member teaching there at the start of my Oswego journey. When we walk its halls, we feel the pulse of academic endeavors, hear the voices of professors and students in classes and see, in our mind’s eye, the performances of choruses, Blackfriars, and various ensembles through the years. Here, the legacy of our founder, Edward Austin Sheldon, has taken root and flourished, growing to become the comprehensive community of learning that is revered today.

We —members of a community with a rich heritage and a certain future — have ample cause to celebrate.